In support of Article 44

Thursday

Apr 26, 2018 at 10:08 AMApr 26, 2018 at 10:08 AM

I have heard the argument — “I’m not against LEGAL immigrants; I'm against ILLEGAL immigrants” — and some might believe that because many immigrants have entered the country legally and gone through the immigration process, everyone should and that it’s only fair.

Well, here’s my story. During WWII, my parents had met on a freight train fleeing their homes with nothing but a suitcase or two and a few family photographs. I was born a stateless displaced person (DP) in a camp in the French zone of Austria just as the war ended. As my parents could claim Polish citizenship, they were not forcibly deported from our camp to Soviet Ukraine or crowded into freight trains and dumped in the forests of Siberia as “enemies of the people.” Had my mother been born just 40 miles east of her birthplace, in Soviet Ukraine, rather than in western Ukraine under Polish rule, she would not have qualified for legal immigration status. After four years at the camp, in 1949, we arrived in Boston on a U.S. military troop transport ship.

My family was just one of millions of families fleeing war, persecution and massacres. My maternal grandfather and great aunt are buried in a mass grave in Ukraine. Their lives and fates, and mine, were decided by ever changing borders, multilateral political deals and, as history has shown, and as current events continue to show, prejudice against certain groups and religions.

Some will say — “that’s very sad but we can’t help everyone.” Well yes, but we can work on bipartisan immigration reform and at the same time feel compassion for the young DACA recipients who know no other country. We can feel compassion for victims of oppression and gang violence in Honduras and El Salvador and war refugees displaced in Syria. They don’t have the time for normal immigration application processes. Regardless of how they arrived and how long they have struggled to eke out a living here in the Commonwealth, we want to ensure that for them, our community is a welcoming town, a town in which they do not have to fear interaction with our police. Why? Because it’s the decent thing to do. After all, we ARE a country of immigrants.

I urge Sudbury residents to vote “yes” on Article 44, Sudbury Welcoming Town Resolution, at the May 7 Annual Town Meeting.